Fredric March was born Frederick McIntyre Bickel on August 31, 1897 in Racine, Wisconsin. He graduated from Racine High School in 1914 and entered the University of Wisconsin, majoring in finance and economics. March's college career was interrupted by a stint in the U.S. Army in 1918 and 1919, but he returned to the university to receive his B.A. in 1920.
March then went to work at the National City Bank of New York in a training program for foreign service; when that program was curtailed March decided to seek a career on the stage. March's first parts were as extras in the films Paying the Piper and The Devil, but late in 1920 he was hired for his first stage role, a one-line bit in David Belasco's production of Deburau. He then toured in Shavings and in 1922 got his first big break in The Law Breaker. A part in Zeno followed in 1923.
In 1924 he assumed the stage name Fredric March, a shortened version of his mother's maiden name, Marcher. In that year he was hired for the juvenile lead in The Melody Man. Stage experience was also acquired in stock and road productions. While on tour with the Theatre Guild repertory company in 1927, March and actress Florence Eldridge slipped away to Mexico and were married. In subsequent years the couple frequently appeared together in plays and films.
In 1928 March went to Los Angeles to appear in The Royal Family, thus beginning a new phase of his career. Paramount Studio signed him to a five-year contract, and his first film for them was The Dummy (1929). Other films followed quickly: The Wild Party and Jealousy in 1929; The Royal Family of Broadway and Laughter in 1930; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Smiling Through, and Sign of the Cross in 1932; Design for Living in 1933; and Death Takes a Holiday and Good Dame in 1934. March won his first Academy Award for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Outstanding films for a variety of studios filled the rest of the 1930's. Among these were The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Les Miserables (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), The Dark Angel (1935), The Road to Glory (1936), Anthony Adverse (1936), Mary of Scotland (1936), A Star is Born (1937), There Goes My Heart (1938), and Trade Winds (1939). So successful was March's career that in 1937 he was reportedly the fifth-highest paid person in the country. Twice during this time March returned to the theater: to produce the short-lived Yr Obedient Husband with John Cromwell in 1938 and to star in the Kaufman-Hart play, The American Way, in 1939.
During the early 1940's March divided his time between Hollywood and New York. He made the films Susan and God and Victory in 1940, So Ends Our Night and One Foot in Heaven in 1941, Bedtime Story and I Married a Witch in 1942, but his most-remembered role during this period was his portrayal of Mr. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth which ran on Broadway for nearly a year.
In 1943 March went on tour for the USO, an experience which was to serve him well during his portrayal of Major Joppolo in A Bell for Adano in 1944. In 1944 he also starred in the film The Adventures of Mark Twain. This was followed by The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946, Another Part of the Forest and Live Today for Tomorrow in 1948, and Christopher Columbus in 1949.
During 1950-1951 the husband-wife team appeared together in three plays on Broadway: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, An Enemy of the People, and The Autumn Garden. After this March returned to create one of his most memorable screen roles, as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.
Although March's pace slowed during the 1950's, he made several films including Executive Suite (1954), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955), The Desperate Hours (1955), Alexander the Great (1956), and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). In the middle of the decade came some of the Marchs' most acclaimed work, their roles in Long Day's Journey Into Night (1956).
March appeared on Broadway in Gideon in 1961 and also made several television appearances, but the emphasis of his career in the 1960's was on motion pictures. He filmed Inherit the Wind in 1960; this was followed by The Young Doctors in 1961, The Condemned of Altona in 1963, Seven Days in May in 1964, Hombre in 1967, tick...tick...tick in 1970, and The Iceman Cometh in 1973.
Fredric March was widely regarded as one of the best stage and screen actors of his era. In 1932 he won an Academy Award for his performance in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His second Academy Award came in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. In 1956 he won a Tony for his role in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night.
After their retirement Fredric March and Florence Eldridge settled in New Milford, Connecticut, but in the early 1970's they moved to Los Angeles. March died of cancer on April 14, 1975.
